Charming old sounds

Press, 7 March 1984, Page 10

Charming old sounds

' By..

ALLAN FRANCIS.

i siw .* aHKOoni ‘.irom-44® inin fee £l®»W* W.<Tnu»ician swore -they were from, the 2te!), hot once more ire had theplea- ‘ with a lttUe damping IntM tooWfeW/jOf hear- > ■’ phrases. a little tubby Glenn ; -Miller and> ; Aft SfaW-Lpius dnincientVaughn Mohroe. . ..., Cole, Porter, ot 4 course, of the time and stllFsbunds 1 gdodl.Of the ones.hqre Tom Dorsey succeeds best of all, , with those fine, punchy' ar- ' rangeijjents band.- <; t ■ - _ . tops, poGcy’ - paid yhandsome. ’With /two : earlier., -filing. ■; Christie, “Death oa the Nile”, apd, ‘Orient. Express,”. and T#ould imagine, would be/equally aa Successful in -fhe’hew one;/? T -■‘Begih- thfi

Ari : Shaw nausea towards the end of its run. The request for repeated playings haunted him until he could stand it no longer, such was the price of popularity, but there would be few today who can resist its charm and beguiling appeal. In hindsight, it is easy to pick the classics from the expendable. Those David Rose tunes which were so swooningly enticing at the time are now passe and raucous; the arrangements are dated. “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” and “Night and Day” are prime examples.

Band vocalists back in the 40s were hardly superstars — their flat and often unlovely voices did little for tunes such as “My Heart Belongs to Daddy” or “Anything Goes.” Even Cole Porter's personal contribution as vocalist and pianist with “You’re the Top” only barely makes the grade. The music though is unquestionably good, proven standards all from the pen of Cole Porter with the best exponent and the most durable coming from Dorsey — “It’s Delovely,” “In the Still of the Night,” “Just one of Those Things,” and “I Get a Kick out of You,” all with a

sturdy brass front line and strong rhythms. Many will get a shade misty at those old sounds; they had a charm, if lacking in well-rounded musical content at times. PETER SKELLERN. Astair, featuring the Grimethorpe Colliery Band and Crikey Choir. MERCURY 9109 702. When this first appeared in 1979 the record was a huge success; now it has slipped with the passage of time and does not sound nearly as good despite the excellent support from such able musicians as Kevin Peek and Barry Morgan. Too many Tacos, too many old bands have made a second innings and have somewhat stolen Skellern’s beguiling thunder. However, his own special “Putting on the Ritz” is still masterful, in a class of its own, as is “Top Hat” and “The Continental.” Whereas Cole Porter was the pivot of the last, Irvin Berlin is the man here with 10 excellent tracks and Peter Skellern breaks the ground for Taco to outBerlin him with that boggling song and dance act.